The Conversation
by chipper-dip
Summary: Chris and Piper have a talk, warning slash


"Mr Halliwell, I asked you a question!" the teacher shouted across the room snapping Chris out of his trance. He was sitting in last class of the day, it was Friday evening and Mathematics was the last thing on his mind. He'd been in a daze most of the day and the closer it came to home time the more he found his mind focusing on what was going to happen that night.

"I'm sorry, Sir, can you repeat it?" he asked as the teacher forced his attention back to the present, he just hoped he'd picked up enough information from the homework to answer him.

"Chris, you really need to pay more attention! I asked you to state Pythagoras theorem for the class." the teacher asked with a distinct tone of annoyance in his voice.

Chris smiled and said, "Sure sir, A squared plus B squared equals C squared" He was relieved that it was a basic question that he could answer which meant he wasn't going to get shouted at and possibly embarrassed in front of the whole class.

"Well done Mr Halliwell, glad to see that you hear some of what I say." The teacher said sarcastically.

The teacher then went on to tell the class their homework for the weekend and then the bell went signalling the end of class. Chris realised that it was getting closer and closer to his big chat with his mom and he was getting more and more nervous. He was sure that everything would be alright, after all he'd spent weeks trying to talk to her and he'd spent months before that deciding it was time to talk to her. Tonight they would finally be alone together as she had a night off from the restaurant, his Dad was covering evening classes at the Magic School and Wyatt was staying over at a friend's house.

Chris walked to the bus in a daze and barely remembered the journey home. His mind was working overtime on all the possible outcomes of tonight's little conversation with his mother. He just hoped against hope that she wouldn't be too disappointed.

When he got off the bus he walked the short distance to his house and as he was walking up the steps to the front door he could feel his pulse racing because he was getting more and more nervous. He really had to calm down or he was going to have a coronary and then he wouldn't have to tell her anything. As he walked in the front door he could hear voices coming from the living room and he felt himself get really annoyed. He'd been stressing over this all week and now the time was nearly here and his mom had a visitor.

He walked into the hall and dropped his bag by the closet door and kept listening to the voices trying to figure out who his mom was talking to. Then he recognized the voice as Billie, his mom's friend. He also got on really well with Billie as they had the same power and she had taught him how to use it to its full potential. He always found it strange that he was able to connect with her based on his power because power was a particularly touchy subject for him. His mom was a Charmed One and his Elder brother could do just about anything he wanted with his powers, Wyatt even had Excalibur, the most powerful sword ever up in the attic for crying out loud. All he could do was orb and TK things. Not really much of a contest.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by his mom calling "Chris, honey is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me!" he replied and even he detected the hint of annoyance in his voice. He couldn't help it; he really wanted to talk to his mom alone. As close as he was to Billie, he wanted to tell his mom first.

"Are you ok? Come in here!" Piper called from the living room.

He walked into the living room saying "Hey mom, hey Billie." and making a conscious effort to hide the annoyance in his voice.

"Hey C, How was school?" Billie asked.

"You know usual, boring!" he replied making both Billie and his mom laugh.

"Glad to see some things never change!" Billie said still laughing "Anyway, good to see you but I really must be going, got a million things to do before dinner! Piper, I've give you a call next week and we can arrange that night out!"

"Sure, will do, you take care!" Piper replied. Chris' mind had wandered off again because the next thing he realised Billie had her arms around him saying "See you soon, C, be good!"

He chuckled and said "I always am, Billie, you know me!"

She gave him a sceptical look before replying "That's the point, I do know you!" Then she winked at him and again said goodbye to both Piper and Chris. After Piper left the room to walk Billie to the door Chris slumped down on the sofa and took his head in his hands. When his mom came back into the room she said "Chris, honey, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing Mom, I'm fine!" he replied.

Piper then sat down beside him and pulled him into a hug.

"Chris, I'm your mom; it's obvious something's wrong! You haven't been yourself all week!" she said stressing the word something.

Chris just looked at his mom, he couldn't think of anything to say to her but he could feel his eyes filling up with tears and he knew that he had come to far to back out now. If he didn't explain himself to his mom, she was going to be worried sick about him.

Piper noticed the tears in his eyes and said, "Chris, honey, talk to me please! I'm really starting to worry about you!"

Chris got up from his seat and started pacing in front of his mom trying to figure out the words to say. After several seconds he looked at his mom's expectant face and he could see the worry and fear in her eyes and at that moment all he wanted to do was allay her fears. He hated having his parents worry about him, especially in a case like this where there was absolutely nothing to worry about.

"Mom, stop looking so worried, everything's fine!"

"Christopher Perry Halliwell, don't you lie to me! I'm not blind; it's obvious something is wrong!

"Mom, I swear, nothing's wrong!" Chris said defiantly then he blurted out, "I just need to talk to you abut something!"

"Well what is it? What can be so serious to make you distracted and weird for over a week!" his mom asked.

"I am not weird!" Chris snapped a lot louder than he intended.

"Oh honey" Piper said with her voice full of remorse, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that you are weird, I just meant that you haven't been yourself!"

"I know what you meant mom and I'm sorry for snapping at you!" Chris said and he started to shake his head before continuing, "I'm just a little stressed at the minute, this isn't easy for me!"

"Chris what is it? You're really starting to scare me now!" Piper said with her concern obviously mounting again.

"Mom, I just have something to tell you and I don't want you to worry about it, I'm still the same Chris, nothing's changed!" he started to explain.

"Chris, you're really worrying me now, have you starting changing into something? You know I can reverse just about every transformation possible!"

Chris couldn't help smiling at what his mom had just said, in nay other household that would sound like madness, but in Halliwell manor, anything was possible. "No mom, I'm not changing into anything. This is something that even the power of three couldn't reverse! It's who I am!"

"What? What are you?" Piper asked clearly very confused about where this conversation was going.

"I'm…..I'm…" Chris stuttered, he couldn't find the courage to say what he needed to say. Piper was staring at him waiting for him to explain what was going on.

"Chris, I'm your mother, it really can't be that bad!" but her imagination was starting to take on a life of its own trying to work out what Chris was trying to say.

"OK, OK, I can do this!" Chris said to more to himself than Piper, "Mom, I'm……gay!" There he had finally said it and the relief he felt was immense. He had finally told the most important person in his life his big secret, all he had to do now was wait for the fall out. Chris had closed his eyes when he had said it as he didn't want to look his mother in the eye and he was awaiting her response with bated breath. After several seconds Chris realised that his mom hadn't said anything and he felt like he had been standing there with his eyes closed for ever so he cautiously opened his eyes to look at his mom. He found Piper sitting on the sofa in the exact same position as she had been when he had told her but she now had a stunned expression on her face. Chris didn't know how to react but all of a sudden he felt all the emotion and nerves of the last few days catch up on him and he couldn't hold back the tears any longer. "Mom, I'm, so sorry, I didn't want to disappoint you. I'm sorry, I can help who I am, please don't hate, Mom, please don't hate me, I didn't mean to let you down. I'm sorry!" By the time Chris had finished his little rant he was sobbing uncontrollably and Piper got of the sofa and pulled him into a tight hug. She embraced him and began murmuring endearments into his ear. She then held Chris at arms length and said "Chris! Chris, look at me!" but Chris was deliberately avoiding his mother's eyes so Piper reached for his chin with one hand and forced him to meet her gaze. He could see that her eyes were also filled with tears,

"Chris, you are my son and I love you! Don't ever, EVER be sorry for who you are. The only way you could ever disappoint me is by not being true to yourself. Being gay does not change the person you are! You are still warm, and gentle, and caring, and loving, and everything else I could ever ask for in a son! I'm sorry I reacted the way I did, I was imaging all sorts, and I was just shocked by what you actually said. Shocked or not, I'm pretty sure I'll still have to collect your dirty laundry from all around your bedroom floor!"

Chris couldn't help but smile at what his mother had just said, he really did have the coolest mom in the world. Piper then pulled him into another tight hug and he said "I love you mom!"

"I love you to son" Piper replied.


End file.
